Newest science myth: the 10,000-step rule

[Gingersnap]

Opinion: Newest science myth: the 10,000-step rule
By Brett Arends
Published: May 30, 2019 10:52 a.m. ET

The supposed activity target was simply made up — most likely by a Japanese clock company

You know that medical advice that you have to walk 10,000 steps a day for maximum health?

Well, you can relax. Turns out, it’s a myth.

A team of researchers from Harvard and other leading institutions just uncovered the medical “source” of this alleged scientific wisdom. And it came neither from a doctor nor a medical establishment, nor even some cutting-edge research.

Instead, it came from the marketing department ... of a Japanese clock company. Fifty years ago.

Say hello to the Yamasa Clock and Instrument Co. Back in 1965, the company wanted a snappy name for a new pedometer and hit on “Manpo-kei.” (Well, maybe it sings in Japanese.)

It translates, literally, as “10,000-steps meter.”

And so a legend was born.

This, say Harvard’s team, is “likely ... the origin of the goal of 10,000 steps per day.”

No, really. The marketing department of a clock company. Did they get a Nobel Prize for that?

‘Limited scientific basis’
“This number has limited scientific basis,” the researchers said. “There is limited information on how many daily steps are needed for health.”

Or, more elaborately: “An expert committee recently identified a critical gap in knowledge on the dose-response association of steps with health outcomes.”

Translation: We don’t actually know how many steps you should walk every day. Oh, and we don’t know if it makes a difference if you walk them fast or slow either.

So much for expert advice. Another golden nugget of scientific wisdom bites the dust.

So how far should we walk each day? No one knows. The researchers conducted a study of elderly women, involving nearly 17,000 with an average age of 72.

The findings? Yes, people who walked more were in general healthier and lived longer. But the 10,000 figure appears nowhere.

Fitness trackers
Instead, they found, the significant health benefits kick in at only 4,400 steps a day. And they top out ... at 7,500 steps.

The speed at which people walked didn’t seem to make too much difference.

I've watched many people get sucked into this, first with pedometers and then later with Fitbit and even more elaborate trackers. From what I can see, it just makes people either feel guilty or smug.

Marketwatch

[Newman]

I remember for a few years the pedometers (Manpo-kei?) were distributed to the 2nd & 3rd grade students where I was working, and charts were kept of how many steps they recorded.

So as you looked at any classroom of students at their desks, you'd see a number of them madly shaking one hand under the desk as if no one would notice. It looked like they were shaking dice they never threw, but paused to check surreptitiously now and again. Some of those faux crap shooters racked up amazing numbers of steps, and probably got a real head start on Parkinson's, too.

[Gingersnap]

I'm fairly active but mostly out of practical/nervousness motives. There are some things I do that are goal-oriented and many that just a part of doing stuff (step-oriented or not) and burning off energy. I've never used any kind of tracker.

My BFF got a Fitbit as a gift and was for some months consumed by the info. Hers also tracked sleep somehow or sleep stages or something. It shortly ceased being "motivating" and became another duty with 100% perfection as a goal.

Now, that may be her default with this kind of device but I've heard much the same from others.

I finally convinced her to take it off. She's one of those people who do everything right anyway (diet, exercise, no real vices - her big vice is eating ONE fried chicken wing), all the medical tests on time, goes to church, prays/meditates, all that stuff. It was driving her insane since she has a very crowded schedule and doesn't sleep well (will not take drugs for it and religiously adheres to a unvarying 'sleep routine').

She felt very guilty but also quite a bit better.

Despite her exemplary lifestyle, she has or had a large number of serious health issues.

Exercise is good. I'm for it. It needs to be 'fun', not a huge chore or at least it needs to be practical and immediately useful (in a few weeks or months). You have to see a material difference in function or effect.

All those super old people in third world countries who are chopping wood and skinning deer at 90 have two things in common: they are genetically gifted/very lucky or they have to do what they have to do and what they have been doing since age four.

Absolutely be active every day but be active in a way that makes sense to you and fits in with your life and makes you happy or useful. Don't read 'Self' and think, "Yes, Battle Yoga will make me live 5 months longer.".

[Gramps]

I'm fairly active but mostly out of practical/nervousness motives. There are some things I do that are goal-oriented and many that just a part of doing stuff (step-oriented or not) and burning off energy. I've never used any kind of tracker.

My BFF got a Fitbit as a gift and was for some months consumed by the info. Hers also tracked sleep somehow or sleep stages or something. It shortly ceased being "motivating" and became another duty with 100% perfection as a goal.

Now, that may be her default with this kind of device but I've heard much the same from others.

I finally convinced her to take it off. She's one of those people who do everything right anyway (diet, exercise, no real vices - her big vice is eating ONE fried chicken wing), all the medical tests on time, goes to church, prays/meditates, all that stuff. It was driving her insane since she has a very crowded schedule and doesn't sleep well (will not take drugs for it and religiously adheres to a unvarying 'sleep routine').

She felt very guilty but also quite a bit better.

Despite her exemplary lifestyle, she has or had a large number of serious health issues.

Exercise is good. I'm for it. It needs to be 'fun', not a huge chore or at least it needs to be practical and immediately useful (in a few weeks or months). You have to see a material difference in function or effect.

All those super old people in third world countries who are chopping wood and skinning deer at 90 have two things in common: they are genetically gifted/very lucky or they have to do what they have to do and what they have been doing since age four.

Absolutely be active every day but be active in a way that makes sense to you and fits in with your life and makes you happy or useful. Don't read 'Self' and think, "Yes, Battle Yoga will make me live 5 months longer.".

We are trying to understand/cure things that are genetically inherited.

[Newman]

I'm fairly active but mostly out of practical/nervousness motives. There are some things I do that are goal-oriented and many that just a part of doing stuff (step-oriented or not) and burning off energy. I've never used any kind of tracker.

My BFF got a Fitbit as a gift and was for some months consumed by the info. Hers also tracked sleep somehow or sleep stages or something. It shortly ceased being "motivating" and became another duty with 100% perfection as a goal.

Now, that may be her default with this kind of device but I've heard much the same from others.

I finally convinced her to take it off. She's one of those people who do everything right anyway (diet, exercise, no real vices - her big vice is eating ONE fried chicken wing), all the medical tests on time, goes to church, prays/meditates, all that stuff. It was driving her insane since she has a very crowded schedule and doesn't sleep well (will not take drugs for it and religiously adheres to a unvarying 'sleep routine').

She felt very guilty but also quite a bit better.

Despite her exemplary lifestyle, she has or had a large number of serious health issues.

Exercise is good. I'm for it. It needs to be 'fun', not a huge chore or at least it needs to be practical and immediately useful (in a few weeks or months). You have to see a material difference in function or effect.

All those super old people in third world countries who are chopping wood and skinning deer at 90 have two things in common: they are genetically gifted/very lucky or they have to do what they have to do and what they have been doing since age four.

Absolutely be active every day but be active in a way that makes sense to you and fits in with your life and makes you happy or useful. Don't read 'Self' and think, "Yes, Battle Yoga will make me live 5 months longer.".

I've seen that too often to think it's a coincidence. Maybe it's impossible to say which came first, the health issues or the perfect lifestyle, but I'm convinced the anxiety generated by the effort plays a major part. Exercise and diet in particular seem to inspire a drive for constant improvement more than other routine compulsions, like making sure all the labels in the pantry are facing forward.

In men, at least, I've seen exercise become an unquenchable compulsion for relentless self-improvement. One more mile than, more weight, more reps, a faster time, etc; the satisfaction of "improvement" is much like the satisfaction of controlling one's diet and losing pounds, and actually is what sustains the drive. Enthusiasm depends on ever-increasing "improvement," or it collapses. Maintainance gets boring.

I think of this every time I hear a recital of exercise injuries. They're almost always the result of the drive for endless "improvement." Diet too, it seems, keeps tightening the screws on the dieter, until exhaustion kicks in. So many people do the "yo-yo dieting" thing I'm convinced it's not a character flaw (with all the self-esteem issues) but a healthy reaction by a stressed-out system, pleading for some down-time, like exercise injuries are signs your body's had enough, and common illnesses are often signs that your body is fed up with your expectations. I suspect more serious health problems are tied in, too.

Very few of us will live forever. That said, I don't want to drop dead while lecturing my family at a holiday dinner about how healthier-than-yours my new diet is. I've had less charitable thoughts about other diet evangelists, though, especially if they get around to telling me how the stuff on my plate isn't good for me.

Maybe grumping about such annoying habits in others is part of a healthy overall disposition. I should keep a chart. One axis would be Targets of Frequent Ire. It might include a few familiar usernames.

[scott]

I'm fairly active but mostly out of practical/nervousness motives. There are some things I do that are goal-oriented and many that just a part of doing stuff (step-oriented or not) and burning off energy. I've never used any kind of tracker.

My BFF got a Fitbit as a gift and was for some months consumed by the info. Hers also tracked sleep somehow or sleep stages or something. It shortly ceased being "motivating" and became another duty with 100% perfection as a goal.

Now, that may be her default with this kind of device but I've heard much the same from others.

I finally convinced her to take it off. She's one of those people who do everything right anyway (diet, exercise, no real vices - her big vice is eating ONE fried chicken wing), all the medical tests on time, goes to church, prays/meditates, all that stuff. It was driving her insane since she has a very crowded schedule and doesn't sleep well (will not take drugs for it and religiously adheres to a unvarying 'sleep routine').

She felt very guilty but also quite a bit better.

Despite her exemplary lifestyle, she has or had a large number of serious health issues.

Exercise is good. I'm for it. It needs to be 'fun', not a huge chore or at least it needs to be practical and immediately useful (in a few weeks or months). You have to see a material difference in function or effect.

All those super old people in third world countries who are chopping wood and skinning deer at 90 have two things in common: they are genetically gifted/very lucky or they have to do what they have to do and what they have been doing since age four.

Absolutely be active every day but be active in a way that makes sense to you and fits in with your life and makes you happy or useful. Don't read 'Self' and think, "Yes, Battle Yoga will make me live 5 months longer.".

I asked my Granddad about his health when he was 70 and still hard at work on the farm and if he thought the farm life kept him and his neighbors (all about his age) healthy. He said no, "We're the ones lucky enough to survive. This life killed your Grammy, old Joe's two kids, and Willy down the holler."

Interesting perspective.

[Gingersnap]

I've seen that too often to think it's a coincidence. Maybe it's impossible to say which came first, the health issues or the perfect lifestyle, but I'm convinced the anxiety generated by the effort plays a major part. Exercise and diet in particular seem to inspire a drive for constant improvement more than other routine compulsions, like making sure all the labels in the pantry are facing forward.

In men, at least, I've seen exercise become an unquenchable compulsion for relentless self-improvement. One more mile than, more weight, more reps, a faster time, etc; the satisfaction of "improvement" is much like the satisfaction of controlling one's diet and losing pounds, and actually is what sustains the drive. Enthusiasm depends on ever-increasing "improvement," or it collapses. Maintainance gets boring.

I think of this every time I hear a recital of exercise injuries. They're almost always the result of the drive for endless "improvement." Diet too, it seems, keeps tightening the screws on the dieter, until exhaustion kicks in. So many people do the "yo-yo dieting" thing I'm convinced it's not a character flaw (with all the self-esteem issues) but a healthy reaction by a stressed-out system, pleading for some down-time, like exercise injuries are signs your body's had enough, and common illnesses are often signs that your body is fed up with your expectations. I suspect more serious health problems are tied in, too.

Very few of us will live forever. That said, I don't want to drop dead while lecturing my family at a holiday dinner about how healthier-than-yours my new diet is. I've had less charitable thoughts about other diet evangelists, though, especially if they get around to telling me how the stuff on my plate isn't good for me.

Maybe grumping about such annoying habits in others is part of a healthy overall disposition. I should keep a chart. One axis would be Targets of Frequent Ire. It might include a few familiar usernames.

You're on to something (not that crack about labels facing forward).

I try to slightly improve (or at least not backslide) but it's not the entire goal of my life. It's why I don't do Masters Swim although I have qualifying times. I know those people. It drives their lives and it's a guaranteed losing proposition. Not only do you not turn in the times that you did at 22 but inevitably your age adjusted times will degrade regardless of your training and effort. You can only hope to live long enough to get into another age category.

Do whatever you really enjoy, do it a lot, and don't think too much about it. Whether it's building a chicken coop or running a triathlon, just have fun with it.

[Newman]

You're on to something (not that crack about labels facing forward).

I try to slightly improve (or at least not backslide) but it's not the entire goal of my life. It's why I don't do Masters Swim although I have qualifying times. I know those people. It drives their lives and it's a guaranteed losing proposition. Not only do you not turn in the times that you did at 22 but inevitably your age adjusted times will degrade regardless of your training and effort. You can only hope to live long enough to get into another age category.

Do whatever you really enjoy, do it a lot, and don't think too much about it. Whether it's building a chicken coop or running a triathlon, just have fun with it.

The label thing was a compulsion of one of my late relatives. As was making sure that everything had a place and was in its place in the fridge. I don't think you have to be a full-blown OCD case to harbor some of those compulsions, like counting steps from one point to another, or counting tiles or something when you're sitting on the can. It's when it screws you up that it counts, like being unable to tie both shoes equally tightly (so get velcro-fastened shoes). Maybe there's a little compulsion gnome in all of us.

[Frostbit]

I've seen that too often to think it's a coincidence. Maybe it's impossible to say which came first, the health issues or the perfect lifestyle, but I'm convinced the anxiety generated by the effort plays a major part. Exercise and diet in particular seem to inspire a drive for constant improvement more than other routine compulsions, like making sure all the labels in the pantry are facing forward.

In men, at least, I've seen exercise become an unquenchable compulsion for relentless self-improvement. One more mile than, more weight, more reps, a faster time, etc; the satisfaction of "improvement" is much like the satisfaction of controlling one's diet and losing pounds, and actually is what sustains the drive. Enthusiasm depends on ever-increasing "improvement," or it collapses. Maintainance gets boring.

I think of this every time I hear a recital of exercise injuries. They're almost always the result of the drive for endless "improvement." Diet too, it seems, keeps tightening the screws on the dieter, until exhaustion kicks in. So many people do the "yo-yo dieting" thing I'm convinced it's not a character flaw (with all the self-esteem issues) but a healthy reaction by a stressed-out system, pleading for some down-time, like exercise injuries are signs your body's had enough, and common illnesses are often signs that your body is fed up with your expectations. I suspect more serious health problems are tied in, too.

Very few of us will live forever. That said, I don't want to drop dead while lecturing my family at a holiday dinner about how healthier-than-yours my new diet is. I've had less charitable thoughts about other diet evangelists, though, especially if they get around to telling me how the stuff on my plate isn't good for me.

Maybe grumping about such annoying habits in others is part of a healthy overall disposition. I should keep a chart. One axis would be Targets of Frequent Ire. It might include a few familiar usernames.

True words

[Frostbit]

Do whatever you really enjoy, do it a lot, and don't think too much about it. Whether it's building a chicken coop or running a triathlon, just have fun with it.

2 out of 3.........

I fight Mike Tyson and love it.



Every time I step into a CrossFit box or do my own hellish workout at home I have a plan. I would say only 10% of the time I slip that punch in the mouth. Over time you think you learn how aerobic capacity dictates cardio workouts but until you mix different physical workout challenges you don't realize how much cardio status affects weight lifting, how lactic overload and disappearing ATP affects muscle performance and strength, and how your mindset can partially overcome these things.

It has applied to my life in general and I understand it much better now.